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HOMES & ART AUTUMN 2013 213
Visual Arts
Jon Tarry | Shape shifter
Given he’s an internationally
renowned sculptor, it’s surprising
to find Jon Tarry in his Belmont
studio with a keyboard and surrounded
by lots of tiny wires plugged into audio
equipment. It looks like a music studio –
which it sort of is, since his current project
involves making sound art.
He does this in a band with well-
known members of Perth’s music scene
Joel Quartermain (Eskimo Joe) and Jon
Stockman (Karnivool). Their last show,
held in February as part of the University
of Western Australia’s (UWA) centenary
celebrations, attracted some 1800 people
to Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery. While
the musicians played guitar, bass and
percussion, Jon was on video, interactive
drawing and what is called ‘sonic pencil’.
railway station, due to be completed in
April this year. Called Tra cker, the design
(for local architecture outfit Donaldson
+ Warn) features eye-popping colours in
a grid-like pattern. “I think people will
be shocked by it,” he says. “Hopefully
then they’ll get used to it, and want to be
shocked some more.”
Around 21,000 people walk through
Perth station each day, so you could
call it his greatest ‘feet’. But that would
discount an impressive resume, including
recent work at the Los Angeles Center
for Digital Art, and Venice Biennale of
Architecture, not to mention pieces held
by The Australian National Gallery and the
Australian Embassy in Berlin.
Last year, Rio Tinto Naturescape Kings
Park – an education site on which he
worked as masterplanner and creator
–
won the Australian Institute of
Landscape Architects National Award for
Design Excellence. “That was a buzz,” says
the artist. Still, he considers the public his
greatest critic. “I want people to interact
with my art, that’s what brings it to life.”
Often working with timber and steel,
Jon’s sculptures have a strong sense of
craftsmanship. “I try to be as honest
with the materials as possible,” he says,
listing Anish Kapoor and Donald Judd as
inspirations. “If my work has bolts in it,
you can see the bolts; if it’s welded, you
can see the welds.”
He also wants “to push the boundaries”
and create something unexpected. Sky
Shard Above the In Between – a 10m steel
“It’s been quite a different, primordial
experience for all of us,” says the artist,
who is also associate professor of visual arts
at UWA. Some of his other titles include
filmmaker, photographer and painter.
But Jon doesn’t care much for labels
(“I don’t want to be ‘the sculpture guy’”),
he’s just curious about the world and uses
whatever means necessary to investigate it,
once even studying anatomy to help with
figurative art. “My work is eclectic, moving
in constantly different directions, and
I never quite have one,” he says, giving
the analogy of a Swiss Army knife.
“There is a connection between it all,
but the expression is different. I like
using materials to activate spaces.”
His latest concoction: a 2000sqm
floor artwork on the upper level of Perth